Harden makes England bow in midweek victory

Gloucester Rugby prop Rupert Harden was a second half replacement as eight try England defeated the South Africa Barbarians 54-26 on Wednesday afternoon.

Harden replaced former Gloucester Rugby team mate and rival for the starting tight head berth at Kingsholm, Paul Doran-Jones, on the hour at the GWK Stadium in Kimberley.

Wasps winger Christian Wade caught the eye with a hat trick as did number eight Thomas Waldrom who scored twice.

George Lowe, Graham Kitchener and Danny Care also scored tries as England produced some slick work in attack although the defence lacked some cohesion at times with the SA Barbarians scoring four tries of their own.

England had to overcome an early 7-0 deficit but two penalties from Charlie Hodgson, on his way to a 14 point haul, got his team back into the game before three tries in five minutes eased England clear.

The sinbinning of James Haskell gave the home side renewed hope and a try from hooker Hannes Franklin duly followed.

The tries continued to flow after the break with three from England and two from the SA Barbarians before late tries from Care and Wade sealed the win.

After taking 11 points from their last three games in the Aviva Premiership, including bonus point wins against Wasps and Bristol, Gloucester will be looking to continue their good form when they welcome La Rochelle to Kingsholm.

Gloucester's much changed side had to overcome conceding an early try on Thursday evening, but responded in style to down Stade Rochelais by 35 points to 14 in the European Rugby Challenge Cup and set up a mouthwatering return fixture next weekend.

Having named an unchanged starting XV for the past three Aviva Premiership games, Gloucester Rugby ring the changes and retain only five players for Thursday's visit of Stade Rochelais in the European Rugby Challenge Cup (kick off 7:45pm).

Talk about a game of two halves. Things looked grim on Saturday as Gloucester trailed 0-6 to Bristol at half-time. However, Matt Scott's eighth try of the season got Gloucester off and running, and the visitors fell apart as the Cherry and Whites eased to a 26-18 bonus point Aviva Premiership win.